Still, Cork supposed that being on watch was better than loading the wagons or packing the other supplies that the captain wanted packed. It was also better than chasing after murderous adventurers who didn’t have the good graces to surrender, and who were far too high of level for the area they were in. This had been supposed to be an easy mission, relatively speaking.
Under the circumstances, Cork also knew that no one was going to be coming by to check and make sure that he was keeping watch properly, so he was leaning against the ramparts, occasionally glancing over at the fields as he yawned. He was looking forward to getting the hells out of Dorma, particularly after some of the rumors he’d heard of what Lord Alethus had planned. Part of the reason Cork had joined the army in the demon’s domain was because Lord Alethus had a reputation for not starting fights, and for surrounding himself with pretty women. The latter was definitely true, but the former was—
“What’s that?” Cork said, the sudden eruption of buzzing jarring him out of his thoughts. He poked his head over the rampart, and Cork’s eyes suddenly widened in horror as he fumbled out his horn, trying to get it to his lips.
Dozens, no, hundreds of yellow and black-clad figures had erupted from the fields around Bearton, armed with spears, swords, staves, bows, and more. Sure, they were beautiful women, but Cork almost lost control of his bowels at the sight of them.
He didn’t manage to sound his horn before the first of them reached him, and her rapier plunged into his shoulder, sending him staggering back, then off the edge of the wall. Halfway to the ground, he did hear another horn sound, though.
Then he hit the ground, and everything went black.
Chapter 34
“Welcome to the jungle, sir,” Egan said wryly, his skin spattered with dirt and grime as the dwarf nodded to her.
“Why, thank you, Egan,” Damaris said, examining the man warily before continuing. “If I didn’t know any better, I might think you were trying to flatter me before breaking bad news. You aren’t, are you?”
“Well, if you mean breaking terrible news, you would be more accurate,” Egan said, grimacing and spitting on the ground as he asked, “How do you feel about army ants?”
Damaris stopped suddenly, a chill running down her spine as she looked at Egan, hoping that he was joking, no matter how bad of taste the joke would be. Unfortunately, the dark look in his eyes and the way his soldiers were on edge told her that he wasn’t joking.
She looked around the tiny clearing for a moment more, then she let her breath out as she focused on Egan again. “They’re a plague on the world, of course, and hearing you talk about them makes me want to burn the jungle to the ground. Now explain.”
“Right,” Egan said, taking a deep breath as he nodded southward. “I got your message and sent scouts south this morning, figuring it’d help to plan our expedition for the site you mentioned. They got about halfway there when they came across a swathe of the jungle that’s been shredded. Worse, they almost ran straight into the mandibles of an entire swarm of the ants. I thought that the apis were bad, but they’re nothing compared to those menaces.”
“Gods damn it,” Damaris said, reaching up to pinch the bridge of her nose and inhaling deeply, then exhaled. “Dare I hope their path was at an angle? Or was it perpendicular to our route?”
“Perpendicular, alas,” Egan said, looking even unhappier. “Fortunately, most of the ants are level five or less, but that doesn’t make them less dangerous.”
“No, it doesn’t. It just means those of us with higher-level armor can shrug off their attacks until they immobilize us and one of them finds a weak point,” Damaris said grimly, glancing over as she asked, “Velk, did you bring a table? One of the traveling ones.”
“I didn’t, but one of the others has one. I’ll get it, sir,” Velk said, an unusually grim look on his face as he turned away.
It only took a minute, then he had the table set up in the dim light of the jungle. One of the scouts raised a lantern for Damaris as she unrolled the map on it.
Egan leaned over the map and traced a line across the map with a dirty finger, explaining. “This is where the line was. Damned ants took down a swathe of trees thirty feet across, at least, and the scouts had to retreat.”
“Wonderful,” Damaris said, examining the map closely as she tapped it. The line almost perfectly cut them off from where the seal was supposed to be, and she hissed, then asked, “Where’s the apis hive?”
“Over here,” Egan said, moving his finger to the northwest of the ants a bit and tapping the map. “They haven’t let us close, but we’ve gotten some glimpses of the hive. At least they don’t attack us outright, but none of them seem to trust us.”
“Unsurprising, considering you killed some of them. At least they aren’t so close that I think they’re likely to hit us from behind,” Damaris said, and grimaced as she looked up. “Velk, get the other captains here. This is going to be unpleasant.”
“Sir?” Velk asked, pausing for a moment, obviously curious about what she had planned.
Damaris looked down at the map as she spoke grimly. “The ants aren’t going to get out of our way, so we’re going to have to cut through them, and have the troops keep an escape route open.”
“Oh. I’ll go get them for you,” Velk said, wincing and turning away, making Damaris feel at least a little better. Misery loved company, and she was feeling a little miserable.
“Sounds like I’d better check my equipment,” Egan said, paling under the grime on his face.
“Yeah, you’d best do that, considering that we’re going to be spearheading the charge,” Damaris agreed.
Egan didn’t look any happier, but he pulled out a crossbow and began looking it over while Damaris waited.
* * *
The horn echoed through even the dense walls of the prison, and Abigail’s head jerked up at the sound. She quickly quashed her hopes, though, shaking her head firmly. “No, it’s probably just another group of adventurers about to get mauled.”
She hated that she’d said it a second later, but it was only the truth. The people who’d taken Bearton were just too powerful for those who regularly visited the town to deal with, and the chances of them escaping were terrible.
Of course, then came more sounds of horns, three of them from the west, and Abigail’s hopes began to rise again, even as she tried to hold herself in check. Instead she moved to grip the bars, hoping that reinforcements had arrived at last, and that Dorma’s army was descending on the attackers in force.
“If they have, maybe we can stop those psychopaths before they get to the seal,” Abigail said, waiting impatiently.
* * *
Leah cursed, ducking an arrow as she called out. “Fall back! Back to the guild house!”
One moment she’d been helping prepare the wagons for the trip, and loading one with the equipment they’d found in the guild’s storeroom, and the next she’d heard the horn. She’d barely had time to grab her bow before she heard the war cries drifting on the morning wind.
“For the hive!”
“For the queen!”
“Stabstabstab!”
“Where in all the hells did they come from?” Leah demanded, drawing her bow and taking aim, then loosed the arrow.
It lanced out in a deadly arc, slamming into her target, an apis with a staff who’d just launched a bolt of purple energy at some of her soldiers. The arrow pierced deep into the apis’s chest, sending her spiraling downward to the ground. While satisfying, the terrifying thing to Leah was that the rest of the apis didn’t even slow down, instead continuing to swarm her disorganized, terrified troops as they fell back in a near-panic.
“I don’t know, sir!” Isdur said, the male elf taking cover behind a barrel as he reloaded his crossbow. “None of the sentries got away before their posts were overwhelmed!”
“I wasn’t asking you! Now get back to the guild house, go!” Leah snarled in response, nocking another arrow as she quickly
began to dance back toward the town square as well.
A wickedly barbed arrow bounced off her armor, prompting a hiss of discomfort, but at least Leah’s armor held. The apis’s equipment didn’t seem to be very high-level, which was the only saving grace for her. Isdur wasn’t as fortunate, as an arrow sank into his back, and Leah swore unhappily.
Now she just had to hope that Damaris wasn’t being attacked like this, and that they’d be able to repel the assault.
Chapter 35
Joy popped her head over the fence, glanced either way, then waved the others forward as she chirped. “This way!”
While she felt a little pity for the people who were getting injured or killed by the other apis, Joy really didn’t feel that bad, especially since she’d seen a few fallen apis along her way. Most of them were injured, but she was regretfully certain that some of them were dying or dead. Their pheromones were rather telling in that regard.
Brianna took the lead in hopping over the fence, followed by Stella, then Cora, and Joy flitted forward past the horses, which looked rather wild-eyed at the buzzing that filled the air. As Joy moved, she saw an apis pause above the church and fire an arrow, then dodge as a bolt of fire lashed out past her.
“You really think that they’ll have prisoners?” Stella asked, looking around warily as they reached the side door of the guild house.
“Yeah, of course. If nothing else because they want sacrifices, and if they were trying to keep word quiet, they wouldn’t want to risk the possibility that the Guildmaster is linked to Irador for resurrection,” Brianna said, testing the doorknob, and swore as she added, “Damn it, locked! Joy, have you learned to unlock doors?”
“Nope!” Joy said, shaking her head, then looked up. “There’s an open window. Want me to—”
“Power Strike!” Stella interrupted, and there was a sound of splintering wood. By the time Joy looked down again, the human was pulling her mace out of the wreckage of the knob as the door creaked open, and Stella spoke bluntly. “We don’t have time for stealth against these people.”
“Fair,” Cora said, nodding and jerking the door the rest of the way open. “It’s faster, anyway.”
“Oh, um, right,” Joy said, flushing as she followed Brianna inside. She caught sight of a woman in the hallway past Brianna, and heard a curse of surprise from her.
The sound of a sword being drawn cut off with a meaty thud, and the woman fell to the ground as Brianna swore, then said, “Alright, the staircase heading down should be in the back. Hopefully there aren’t too many of these people in our way!”
Joy nodded, following as closely as she could, and moments later they emerged into the main room of the guild house, which looked a lot like the one in Seldrim, Joy noticed. It was just a good deal dirtier, like no one had cleaned recently, and no secretary was behind the counter. The trio of armed soldiers in the middle of the room were a distraction, though, as was the enormous sword the orc in the lead was wielding. He had it in one hand, too, which made Joy’s eyes widen enormously.
“Intruders!” the orc bellowed, and he rushed forward as the two adjacent to him hastily spun to face their group, one a man in leather armor, and the other a woman with a bow.
Rushing forward, Joy yelped and ducked into a roll as the orc unleashed a horizontal slash, rolling under it. The clash of steel echoed through the air along with Brianna’s grunt as the human blocked the blow, and Joy bounced to her feet just as the man in leather armor was aiming at her with a wand.
“Lightning—” the man began, but Joy punched him in the throat, causing him to gag.
“Sorry!” Joy said cheerfully, then stabbed him in the stomach. The man croaked, his hands going to his stomach instead of his throat as he fell over.
“Ice Blast!” Cora’s voice echoed through the room, and an orb of ice flashed out of her staff to hit the woman with the bow.
The woman staggered, but didn’t fall, at least not before Stella reached her and struck with her mace. The bloody display made Joy wince, and she turned back to the orc, who was exchanging blows with Brianna. Her friend was on the defensive, and Joy paused, looking for a good opportunity to jump in, while Brianna was driven back a couple of steps by the man’s fierce attacks.
Her chance came only seconds later, and Joy lunged forward, her arm fully extending as she exclaimed, “Penetrating Strike!”
The rapier pierced the back of the orc’s knee unerringly, and he bellowed in pain as his leg collapsed beneath him. Joy looked away just as Brianna swung her sword, recovering her rapier as the man’s voice cut off, and was followed by a thump and rolling sound.
“Damn it,” Brianna panted, the sound of weapons coming from outside as she hesitated, then spoke. “I’ll hold the doorway, so they don’t get reinforcements! Go find any captives and get them out.”
“But—” Joy began, only for Stella to interrupt.
“I’ll back her up. You two be careful,” Stella said, her eyes narrowing as she followed Brianna toward the door. The Swordswoman slammed her shoulder against it while scrabbling to set the bar in place, though with how quickly Stella had disabled the other door, Joy wasn’t sure that would last long.
“Come on!” Cora urged, turning to rush toward the back, and Joy reluctantly turned and followed her, surprised at her reaction. The idea of just leaving the others felt wrong to the apis, and she couldn’t help feeling guilty.
Still, she had a job to do, and that helped Joy focus. Every apis had to do their part, so she rushed toward the door Cora was approaching, focusing on keeping the mage safe above all. She couldn’t afford to do otherwise.
The door opened easily at Joy’s touch, as it hadn’t been latched, and as she did, she heard a woman cursing from below, down a flight of stairs. “Hurry up, already! They need the flasks now, not after we’re overwhelmed!”
“I’m moving as fast as I can!” a man snapped in reply, his voice muffled. “If those intruders come down the stairs you’d better—”
Joy didn’t hesitate at that, and instead of taking the stairs, since they doubled back halfway down, she jumped over the edge and spread her wings.
At the bottom of the stairs was a blonde elven woman in the armor of the intruders and with a key ring hanging from her belt, a mace in one hand as she looked away, through a doorway that was heavily reinforced with iron bands. The room beyond her had shelves all through it, and a brown-haired half-elf was holding a large crate with brown glass bottles. He saw Joy and his eyes widened.
“Look out!” the man exclaimed, and the woman recoiled, turning back just as Joy lunged forward.
“Stab!” Joy shouted, thrusting viciously forward, but the woman dodged just enough that the blade nicked her throat instead. Joy yelped and dodged the woman’s counterstroke, pain lancing through her as the woman clipped her left arm, but Joy didn’t let it slow her down.
Joy didn’t narrate her follow-up, and this time she didn’t miss. The rapier plunged into the woman’s throat, and she fell, clutching at her neck as the man finished setting down the crate, pulling out one of the bottles as he straightened. Joy had to wonder what the man had in mind, since she had no idea what the bottle did, but she didn’t want to find out. Instead she drew a dagger with her left hand and flipped it to hold the blade.
“Flurry of Blades!” Joy said, throwing the dagger at his arm, mentally frustrated that her aim was a bit low, but her arm drew back again as a shadowy copy of the blade appeared in her hand, aiming at the man’s neck, this time.
As Joy released the second dagger, the first slammed into the man’s wrist, punching through his armor, and the bottle slipped from his fingers. His eyes widened and he lunged for it with his other hand, letting out a panicked. “No!”
Joy’s second dagger didn’t penetrate the man’s armor, bouncing off, then dissipating, but it did rock him back as he tried to catch the flask and missed. The apis only had an instant to wonder why he’d looked so terrified before the bottle landed on the crate it�
��d come out of.
The bottle shattered, and the next instant it was like a massive hand had swatted Joy backward, as an eruption of fire and smoke slammed into her.
Chapter 36
An explosion rocked the entire guild house, and Abigail’s eyes widened as the very bars of her cell creaked and dust filtered down from the ceiling. She had no idea what had just happened, but it’d been in the very next room, and… then her eyes widened more as dread rushed through her as she realized it was in the guild’s secure storeroom.
“No… they couldn’t possibly have been that stupid, could they?” Abigail murmured, her thoughts settling on the store of inferno flasks that the Guild had kept on hand for sale to adventurers. Individually the flasks were useful for dealing with most of the monsters in the area, but the explosions weren’t too serious. If multiple flasks exploded at the same time, the results were far more catastrophic, though.
She just hoped it wasn’t what she thought it was.
* * *
Leah deflected a spear with a bracer and retaliated with her sword, half-impaling the apis in the process. She quickly retrieved her sword, having learned that the apis were not averse to trying to trap weapons in their own bodies to allow their companions to deal with their killers. She’d seen that happen at least twice so far, and one example had been particularly vivid. She hoped Alice resurrected so she could lecture her later.
Then the explosion rattled the ground beneath her, and Leah staggered, then hopped back to use a wagon as an approximation of cover. It wasn’t what she wanted, but it was as good as she was going to get, and she glanced toward the guild house and her eyes widened.
Smoke was pouring out of several of the building’s windows, and she could see the foundation bulging toward the front, even as a couple of her soldiers were fighting someone in the broken doorway of the building.
Webs & Wards (Beesong Chronicles Book 2) Page 22